Deported Nigerian says daughters face genital mutilation

Nigerian mother-of-two Pamela Izevbekhai says she will try and keep her family in Ireland despite being ordered deported by a Dublin court after her claim for political asylum failed.

Izevbekhai, says her daughters Naomi (9) and Jemima (8) face genital mutilation if they are deported to her native Nigeria.

She says she is "looking forward" to taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Irish Supreme Court, in a majority four-to-one decision, ruled against her. Justice Minister Demrot Ahern denied that genital mutilation was likley in the case of her daughters .

"The vast majority of the cases here in Ireland are not running away from war, they are economic migrants," he said.

Asked if new asylum laws would eliminate many of the legal challenges, Ahern said: "I can't say that because I could never second guess the ingenuity of the legal profession to (try) to pick holes in (them)."